Ursa

The only house I know that takes inspiration but instead of making clones offers upgrades with new X factors, which are always suspiciously closer to my taste. One thing he always does is adding a dimension and making interesting but flat concoctions 3D. And always oddly for a better price. Ursa takes patchouli+rum of Straight to Heaven and puts it beneath a salty animalic leather, tobacco, Incense and dried fruits to make a full meal out of the nice snack of by Kilian's. Better performance, twice the volume, better ingredients and somehow cheaper. The loud opening is very traditionally masculine, boozy patchouli, salty Terenzi leather and tobacco are so empowering and attractive here, noticeably deeper, more carnal and more bold than StH by Kilian. The one thing that I love about it is the human skin facet of Ursa. A unique clean-sweat effect, as a boxer it's a very familiar scent that I get after hard training and a hot and cold bath afterwards. It's photo-realistic accurate. I love it. The 3rd dimension of Ursa is a gamechanger, it's alive, romantic, wild and unapologetic all compared to StH that shares the two central opening top notes of patchouli and rum. Side by side it's StH that feels like a cheap clone of Ursa, it lacks character, feels flat and lasts noticeably shorter in comparison, while StH shows promise Ursa takes the risk and goes out of its comfort zone, it has got scars that tell the story of its journey. Ursa is still handsome but now also wild. What it reminds me of and who I imagine wearing it? It makes me think of dates in 80s Italian movies with Italian superstars, starting in a upper-class restaurant among wise guys and divas, leading to watching stars and ending in a hot bed. Dirty first date moves, sexy but romantic and trustworthy. In short young Vito Corleone. I personally cannot imagine myself liking it on a lady I want to date, but it's up to you of course if you like it. Whom do I recommend it to? If you like any of boozy, patchouli, salty leather or non-sweet tobacco try this, if you like traditional mature masculines and can handle a touch dirtiness try it you may love it, dried fruits are not the typical fruity here, don't be afraid of that, otherwise it's not for the sweet loving generation that thinks real leather stinks. It starts loud, after 40 minutes loses half of the booziness and gets moderate, lasts a very long time just there, the only scent transition is the booziness that leaves completely on the 4th hour mark. Personal: it gives me a rush of self confidence, like a fresh great haircut, transports me to my previous life as a wise guy or a John Dillinger. Tempts me to change my leather jacket for an Italian suit! Makes me want to take care of someone (no, not in an Italian way)! Love.

I finally have my bottle and first of all, now I finally understand both people that love it and the ones who hate it. I love this scent, but not for the reasons I thought I would, It's strange and mysterious, and quite surprising. This bottle needs understanding, time and love. Why? because as soon as I received the package and was very excited doing the first sprays, it was a shock. What? why does this so called "exquisite perfume" smell like my car's moldy A/C? ew. But so many good reviews couldn't be all that wrong, right? So I let this stand on my wardrobe for two weeks, still wearing it couple times as a base layer for other "easy to wear" fragrances (More about that later). And man, did this bottle improve over time! The funky-mold is slowly turning into rock moss, that strange humidity feel turned into a walk through the forest after the rain, everything is starting to feel like it's supposed to be. All it needed is some time to sit, and a couple sprays out to get air into the bottle for oxidation (to round off some roughness of the opening). This one is not a crowd pleaser, it doesn't make people say "your perfume smells good", it doesn't smell like a perfume, but it blends with your skin and turns out to be a skin scent enhancer, if that makes any sense at all. I imagine this scent as a cosy accord for a warm cuddle, and a sexy skin scent for intimate moments. It's primal, like the most refined skin oil in a bottle, it's a scent to please yourself and your loved one. So if you are looking for a compliment getter, if you care more about how many compliments a day instead of who does it, then this scent is not for you. Also, this is not for young people, I'm 30 and I feel like barely starting to fit with it. As a base layer it's also great for a touch of mystery, these are the ones that I tried and really liked: Ursa - Bvlgari man Wood essence. Ursa - Tom Ford black orchid. Ursa - Spicebomb extreme (this combo is excellent for night time). Ursa - Tiziana Terenzi Orion (dominant pineapple note with a tremendous earthy background). This is the most wanted caveman of the tribe, the leather jacket you inherited from your grandfather, the morning outside your tent in the forest, this is rock, wood, water and roots. And day after day I love it even more

As a relative newcomer with not much experience of "the animalic", wearing this has been an unusual learning experience for me. I initially sprayed a bit in the air to get a sense of the sillage and was both a bit put off and also intrigued by the animalic note. My curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to go ahead and wear it on skin..... So how does it smell? I can definitely see why it's so divisive, and it's not going to be for everyone. For me, the first thing I got was a big whack of boozy rum above a slightly stinky, almost medicinal, oud. The rum disappeared very quickly, and the rich fruitiness that popped out a second later became a slightly less distinct sweetness shortly afterward. It then settled, and became akin to what I can only really describe as a damp forest in late autumn. Imagine picking up some of the sodden leaves from the muddy forest floor, then pulling a handful of wood from a fallen tree that's started to go soft, and scrunching it all up in your hand. Alongside that you have a slightly waxy, perfumed combination of the elemi and olibanum, reminding you that this is actually a scent and not just an olfactory scene. Somewhere way below all of this is a vague hint of vanilla that somehow ties it all together whilst not reducing the punchy bite of the woody notes. I've decided that I like it, and that I may end up loving it, although that'll probably take some time. It definitely wasn't a conclusion that I came to immediately, and I definitely don't think this should be a blind buy unless you are feeling really reckless (and rich), but if you can look past the initial pungency there is something very compelling about this scent which I suspect will keep me coming back to my sample, and maybe even eventually investing in a bottle.

I was introduced to this house when I found STH and STHX, but couldn't justify the asking for STHX and really didn't want to settle for STH. This review is NOT about Ursa being a sub for STH or STHX. Ursa, is different. If you're interested in unique, artistic scents, read on..! accompanying vid: watch?v=v1rMieukIbE So, naturally, I looked for retailers in Canada so I could smell this and get a 2mL vial to test run on my skin right? Well, I found that Tiziana Terenzi only had the Barney's in NY near me. So I e-mailed out and 1 week after, they sent me some free samples to try via 3-d FEDEX. In that, was Orion, Ursa, and March XIX. That's the kind of service After 4 days of cycling Orion and Ursa. I decided that Ursa would replace STHX and that Orion will be my summer purchase (I actually didn't know Orion had Aventus vibes, it smelled so unique as well). Fast forward a month, I bought a FB from MaxAroma. This is a wonderful creation which opens with what I would say is a Patchouli leather and incense. the patchouli is so nice and glides along the entire 10 hours of this frag. There is also a lot of rum at the open and a faint oud that becomes a bit noticed in the drydown. but it's more like "hints" of oud. The fragrance projects like a beast and in the drydown you get the dried fruits, the nutmeg, and leather and booze along with what seems to hint at vetiver. There's something cool about the frags from this house. The projection kind of seems to die (to you) after the first 2 - 3 hours. but even at the trail end you keep catching whiffs of it and it's really nice.. Also, there's something animalic in the open of this. Anyone know what it is?

Nose Note #853 Yes, it's basically Straight to Heaven for less money, you don't have to be a connoisseur to understand that. Nice and strong. I've had Zimaya A Fairy Tale, but it was noticeably more synthetic and overall not as enjoyable or long lasting as this. This is apparently challanging to many people, I don't quite see why. It does indeed have a moldy facet, but the smell of mold is amazing, is it not?! Like this damp moldness of a basement. But it's not about mold really, it's about dusty dried fruits, slightly boozy. One of a kind smell, really. Very recognizable and very memorable. This costs around $150, and I think it's worth the price because it performs nicely, much better than A Fairy Tale. I used to be a strong believer that $30-50 is tops of what a perfume is worth because of the UAE brands, but I have since gone through many dupes and they really often don't hold water against the OGs. The scent overall may be close, but you can feel that OG is far more superior in quality and UAE brands often underperform badly, in my experience. So I'd much rather have 5 bottles for $150 each, than 25 for $30 each, all of them half-baked. To me this is a purely masculine scent. Patchouli is amazing here. 8.2/10, may not be quite up my alley, but it's very enjoyable and an easy grab for me